WILLIE BOBO  -HELL OF AN ACT  TO FOLLOW/BOBO

Willie Bobo was one of the great Latin percussionists of his time. Bobo began on the bongos at age 14, but he is best known for his Timbales and Conga playing in Afro Cuban Jazz . Willie Bobo was the stage name of William Correa the nickname Bobo is said to have been bestowed by the jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams in the early 50's .William Correa grew up in Spanish Harlem New York City . where he met Mongo Santamaria  shortly after his arrival and studied with him while acting as his translator, and later at age 19 joined Tito Puente for four years. Bobo and Santamaria became part of the Cal Tjader Modern Mambo Quintet, who released several albums as the mambo craze reached fever pitch in the late '50s.
After working with Cal Tjader and Herbie Mann and Santamaria with whom he recorded the evergreen Latin standard "Afro-Blue" — Bobo stepped forward in 1963 with his first recording as a leader. But it was after recording 3 solo albums  that Willie featured on Cal Tjader's classic 'Soul Sauce' which brought him to the attention of Verve records , where he made 8 albums between 1965-68 that established him as a solo artist. These albums contained a mixture of original material and Latin covers of R&B and pop songs.HIs bands included many future band leaders like Joe Farrell and Chick Corea.  During the 60's he also played on many great recordings made by artists including MIles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Hancock, Wes Montgomery and Chico Hamilton. 
In 1969, he moved to Los Angeles where he led jazz and Latin jazz combos, appeared on Billy Cosby's first comedy series (1969-1971) and short-lived 1976 'Cos' variety show, he also appeared on Cosby's Bad Foot Brown and Bunions Bradford Funeral Marching Band album on Sussex, the label where he made his 1971 album 'Do What You Want To Do' that features the popular track 'Broasted Or Fried'. After an album on Blue Note, Willie signed to Columbia in 1978 where he recorded these two albums which were to be last of his career, as he died from cancer in 1983 aged 49.
'Hell Of An Act To Follow' was produced by Wayne Henderson for At-Home productions. The album featured some great musicians including Bobby Lyle and Conga/Latin Percussionist Victor Pantoja. Henderson gave Bobo a more sophisticated production style and the album has become a 'jazz funk' classic. It features a great and possibly definitive version of Ronnie Laws classic 'Always There', we also include the rare remix promo only 12" version as a bonus cut. There are also covers of The Crusaders 'Keep That Same Old Feeling' (featuring Augie Johnson, Sylvia St James and others on background vocals) , Lyle's 'Pisces' and A.C Jobim's 'Dindi' which Bobo said was his favorite song, on which Willie gives a good vocal rendition. .
The second album featured is 'Bobo' from 1979 was produced by Willie along with Stan Silverberg, and features in the main a different band to 'Hell Of An Act'. It is much more of a vocal album featuring Errol Knowles on the popular 2 stepper 'Comin Over Me', the ballad 'It’s over' and the up-tempo dancer 'Reason For Livin', with Willie being more evident on 'Palos'.

Willie has left us with a great musical legacy, and we are proud to present them on CD for the first time as part of our classic albums series. Willie is succeeded by his son Eric 'Bobo' Correa who is a percussionist in the band Cypress Hill.

Laurence Prangell
Soul Brother Records
June 2009.

Track list (click to hear tracks - one minute clips)